It was in a small hospital room in Mumbai in 1978 that a baby boy entered the world. For nearly two years, he lived with his biological mother at an adoption centre in the city. She cared for him herself, holding him close in the only home they knew. “My mother always wanted to keep me with her and raise me on her own,” the boy, who is now in his late forties, recalled. Circumstances, however, decided otherwise. In early June 1980, while his mother slept, the toddler was taken from her, as he was already on the adoption list. The two-year-old was placed on an Air India flight to Switzerland, accompanied only by a flight attendant. When the plane touched down, he was handed over to his adoptive parents waiting at the airport. That moment severed a physical bond that would remain broken for more than four decades. Matthias, with his new name and new family, started living in a small village near Zurich. His adoptive father taught in a school; his adoptive mother managed the household.…